In addition to retirement benefits, the Social Security Administration (SSA) is also tasked with the roll out of the SSI, or Supplemental Security Income benefit. This is a type of benefit that is paid to individuals who have little to no other income or resources — often due to being unable to work as a result of a disability or blindness.
During the Biden Administration, a rule was put in place which expanded SSI eligibility by adding SNAP (Supplemental Nutrition Assistance Program) qualifying households to the list of what is considered as a “public assistance household”. This meant that if an SSI beneficiary was residing in a household with SNAP qualifying members, their SSI benefits would not be reduced.
Now, however, it appears that the SSA under the Trump Administration is planning to rescind this rule and effectively remove SNAP as a qualifying program for “public assistance household” status. This would then cause hundreds of thousands of beneficiaries to face benefit cuts, with some facing the possibility of losing their benefits entirely. Here is everything you need to know.
How do SSI benefits work?
According to the SSA, in order for an adult or child to qualify for SSI benefits, they must have little to no other resources or income, have a disability or blindness, or be 65 or older. The individual cannot have common resources or money in a bank account exceeding $2,000 as well. In 2025, the maximum SSI benefit totals to $967, however, this amount is subject to reductions based on income from work, money from non-work sources, or living situation. Additionally, if you are living with a spouse, or you are a child on SSI, your benefit could be reduced based on the spouse”s or parent’s income.
Furthermore, “if you live in someone else’s home and don’t pay your fair share of food and shelter costs, your SSI payment may be lowered by up to $342.33,” according to the SSA. However, if the SSI recipient resides in a “public assistance household”, the reduction will not apply, and under the Biden Administration, this was expanded to include SNAP qualifying households.
Proposed policy shift
The Trump Administration has now motioned to have the Biden era rule rescinded, which would effectively remove SNAP as a qualifier for “public assistance housing” status. If this rule is rescinded, approximately 400,000 SSI recipients will be hit with benefit cuts, and some might even lose their SSI eligibility entirely, as per estimates from the Center on Budget and Policy Priorities (CBPP).
In a statement, a spokesperson for the SSA stated the following: “The proposed rule would return us to the longstanding criteria and policies that were in place for decades before 2024. We do not expect this return to the status quo to create unnecessary red tape or cause an increase in workload for SSA staff. As is standard with rulemaking processes, the proposed rule will be made publicly available, and the public will be given a chance to comment before the rule is finalized.”
“Under the anticipated Trump administration proposal, it’s expected that receiving food assistance from SNAP would no longer be enough to qualify a family as a ‘public assistance household.’ This change would ignore the reality that families who receive SNAP have very low incomes — the typical multi-person SNAP household with at least one member who receives SSI has an annual income of around $17,000, well below the poverty line,” Kathleen Romig and Devin O’Connor from the CBPP wrote in a recent report. “The resulting SSI benefit cuts would be felt in low-income households with disabled family members or older relatives across the country.”
The CBPP further warned that restricting eligibility in this manner could also discourage friends and family of SSI recipients from helping them out, fearing it might lead to a reduction in their benefits.